Thursday, July 02, 2015

Big Jerks as Great Visionaries? Or Vice-Versa?

As I was reading Tony Schwartz's recent article, "The Bad Behavior of Visionary Leaders" (NYT, June 26, 2015), I finally understood why visionaries like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk can be so "unnecessarily cruel and demeaning . . . to the people who helped make their dreams come true." Schwartz helped me see why:

I would argue that most of the bad behavior of these men is fear-based, impulsive and reactive rather than consciously hurtful. It grows not out of a sense of superiority but rather of insecurity.

Still, why the insecurity? They're geniuses. The insecurity comes from the fact that those around them are not all geniuses. Schwartz tells us:

I know well the anxious feeling that can arise when a deal is coming undone, a project isn't gelling or an employee seems to be falling short. I know how frightening it can be to feel out of control . . . . Each of [these three visionaries] . . . was far more likely to act out suddenly and behave poorly when he wasn't getting exactly what he wanted - when he felt that others were failing to live up to his standards.

I finally understood. Great visionaries make great demands. Insanely great demands. They do so for their visions, and if they see their vision fading because of some employee failing to perform in an insanely great fashion, they lose control in trying to maintain control.

I can see how that happens. I understand . . . and I learn something new every day.

4 Comments:

True, another reason I believe these extraordinary visionaries are successful is they have the ability to share the vision and bring together highly functioning teams to make miracles happen. I watched Elon Musk on a TED presentation a few years ago. He may be a bit insanely sane, but his enthusiasm and drive had me believing in everything he presented.

The visionaries you mentioned are not known for their people skills. Another rare visionary is one like Sam Walton who probably knew more about retail and selling stuff than almost anyone, but he did it by getting people to perform at their personal best not measured by his own drive and standards. One of my favorite sayings of Mr. Sam was something like "Believe and trust in your associates. They will then believe and trust in you, and both of these will lead everyone to give their best all of the time." Mr. Sam did not expect his level of performance from every associate, he just expected your personal best at all times.

Funny how quick the visionaries are forgotten. I wouldn't be enjoying the wonderful inventions of air conditioning, radio and television, or perusing the Internet on my laptop right now had it not been for the insanely-driven, winner of the "War of the Currents," and master of electricity, Nikola Tesla. I just re-watched one of the better television biographies of his life from PBS, and it still rankles me just how little credit he gets for besting Thomas Alva Edison's DC debacle while Marconi used his patents to supposedly invent radio. Sadly, Tesla received neither the accolades or money for his enormous achievements for the betterment of humankind.

At least these Johnny come lately generation of inventors are getting their shares of both the pie and the glory that Tesla never got during his lifetime.

About Me

I am a professor at Ewha Womans University, where I teach composition, research writing, and cultural issues, including the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history.
My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism.
I also work as one-half of a translating team with my wife, and our most significant translation is Yi Kwang-su's novel The Soil, which was funded by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested.
I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries.
Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."